Possible wrey neck?

[tlcrawford916]

Hi everyone. I have barred rock that is a few months old. A week ago I noticed she was holding her head to one side. I started researching and wrey neck is what I'm thinking. Question is will she get over this? I have been giving her the vitamin supplement in her water that has vitamin E, electrolytes, and probiotics. I'm also giving her selenium. She was pooping neon green but that has gone away and is normal. She will eat and drink on her own. Some days she looks like she's on her way out. Not doing good. Then other days she's better. Today is not a good day. She is holding her head upside down now. She has failed to thrive like the other hens. She is 1/4 the size of others bought at the same time. So how long do I let her go like this to try to save her? Should I just put her down? I don't want her to suffer. Thanks for any advise.

 

[Michael Apple]

Are they all on medicated feed, or are you using Amprolium in their waterers? Coccidiosis can certainly stunt growth. Poultry Nutri-Drench is a good remedy for Encephalomalacia (Crazy Chick Disease), which is caused by a vitamin E deficiency. The chick could recuperate in a week or two if no brain damage was done. Rancid feed and excessive amounts of cod liver oil can also cause that problem.

 

[Eggcessive]

Unfortunately it is hard to know whether or not the wry neck symptoms will disappear or not. Each case is different, and it depends on what caused it. Wry neck or tortcolis is a neurological symptoms that may occur with vitamin deficiency, or from brain inflammation due to head or neck injuries, heredity, or from infectious diseases such as Mareks disease, Fowl cholera, or respiratory diseases. Many times there i improvement with the vitamins, and keeping them in a quiet low stress environment. Feeding and getting enough water can be quite a challenge. It might help you to read a few links and threads about other's experiences:
http://www.browneggblueegg.com/Article/Crookneck/Crookneck.html
http://oureggbasket.blogspot.com/2013/04/wry-neck-or-crook-neck-understanding-it.html
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/97121/lets-talk-wry-neck-crook-neck
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/382088/wry-neck-treat-or-euthanize-updated-with-great-results

 

[tlcrawford916]

The breeder I got them from said don't use medicated food so I didn't until this week. No other birds are sick. Just this one. The water supplement I got is from tractor supply. It's called rooster booster. Has 160 IU of vitamin E. Is that enough or should I get capsules? She has always been smaller than rest.

 

[Eggcessive]

For wry neck symptoms, treating with thiamine (vitamin B1,) vitamin E, and selenium would be what I would do. Most poultry vitamins have the first 2, and selenium can be found in eggs, canned tuna, chopped meat, sunflower seeds, and chopped nuts. Don't overdo the selenium. Poultry Cell and Poultry Nutri-Drench vitamins contain the two vitamins and selenium.

 

[Julia62]

I just went through this same thing. I put my girl down on Friday (8 months old). She lived with it for 11 days. We kept her in our bath tub and I hand fed her 2-3 times daily (egg, beef, crumble mixture) and she had food and water in the tub. She could eat on her own with our help but I think just threw food around without us as her head was always off to the side. She also was the only one out of 4 that came down with this. I treated her with what I learned here: Vit E, Selenium, Poly Vi Sol, Turmeric. I just decided since no signs of improvement, it wasn't a fair life for her to live. I took her to the NV Dept of Agriculture to the state vet for euthanasia and to get a necropsy. My biology results will be sometime early this coming week.

My Tammy started this with a tumor under her waddle. Treated that with Bayril and it did not help. Then about three weeks later, the wry neck showed up. The vet did not find any other tumors in her body.

 

[tlcrawford916]

I hate keeping her around like this. But then the next day she will be up walking around and holding her head up and eating. Sometimes she will be holding her head sideways then it's like she's shaking it off and be straight for a few minutes. I'm gonna get some different meds suggested here and try a few more days.

 

[Eggcessive]

I hate keeping her around like this. But then the next day she will be up walking around and holding her head up and eating. Sometimes she will be holding her head sideways then it's like she's shaking it off and be straight for a few minutes. I'm gonna get some different meds suggested here and try a few more days.

It sounds like her wry neck is more intermittent than Julia's chicken, Tammy. If you do have to put her down, then I would recommend getting a necropsy done by your state vet, just in case of Mareks. That is something that stays in your environment for many years, and vaccination of any new birds should be done before adding to your flock.

 

[Julia62]

It is such a hard thing and as Eggcessive said, each case is individual. If Tammy had shown signs of getting better, I would have kept going. Her weight was 1lb, 10oz to start and it did go up 2oz, but then back down again towards the end. My thread about it is titled "SLW with tilted head" if you want to read it. I am going to post my necropsy results when they come in.

Do you have her isolated? I took Tammy indoors since I didn't know if she would infect the others and I also thought they might pick on her since she was in a compromised condition. She could stand but was not stable and would go in circles at times and that got worse as time went on.

 

[tlcrawford916]

I put her in a crate beside the others but just moved the others to the permanent coop so they are out now. None of the others are sick. This one has never really grown. She is 1/4 the size of the others. If I can figure it out I will post puctures